


Can You Hear Me Now?

by russian_blue



Category: Aliens (1986)
Genre: Gen, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-25
Updated: 2012-12-25
Packaged: 2017-11-22 08:23:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 386
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/607790
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/russian_blue/pseuds/russian_blue
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A moment on a bug-hunt.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Can You Hear Me Now?

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Brightbear](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Brightbear/gifts).



She was mostly deaf even before the percussion grenade went off; now she can’t hear a damn thing. Vasquez blinks the blurriness from her vision and focuses on the nearest guy. Gupta? No, Hudson; her luck just keeps getting better and better. She cups one hand to her ear, then makes the throat-cutting gesture that isn’t part of the official list of hand signals, but every Marine knows what it means. _My hearing’s fucked._

Hudson signals acknowledgment. Then, one gesture at a time, he begins to spell out the plan.

One finger toward her, and then toward him. Vasquez nods.

A sweep of his hand. They would both move up, all right. She gives him the A-OK to show she understands.

Finger to her. Flat hand to the floor.

Finger to him. Flat hand again. Both go prone, sure.

Then, confusingly, Hudson A-OK’s her. Thinking it’s a question, Vasquez returns the signal. And holds it, staring, as Hudson takes the index finger of the other hand and moves it in and out of the hole formed by his finger and thumb.

She blames the percussion grenade. It knocked her brains loose.

Vasquez slams her hand against Hudson’s shoulder, knocking him out of his crouch and onto his ass. He’s laughing at her, she can see, even if her ears still aren’t registering anything other than a ringing echo.

Well, _he_ can hear _her_ ; he wasn’t there when the grenade went off. Vasquez leans in, ignoring Hudson’s shit-eating grin, and bellows into his ear, shaping the words by feel. “And here I thought the good part of going deaf was, I didn’t have to listen to your shit!”

Then she raises her pulse rifle, right by his head, and fires off three quick rounds, dropping the bug that was creeping up on him. Because that’s life in the Marines: one minute you’re dreaming of shoving your rifle up your squad-mate’s ass, and the next minute you’re saving that ass instead.

The guy who recruited Vasquez told her that her fellow Marines would become her brothers and sisters. He'd gone on to say something about bleeding together, but for Vasquez' money, _this_ is where it is. All the bullshit, and the wanting to punch Hudson in the face, and then making the fucking bugs bleed instead of them.


End file.
